MetaFilter posts tagged with Zappa and musichttp://www.metafilter.com/tags/Zappa+music
Posts tagged with 'Zappa' and 'music' at MetaFilter.Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:02:24 -0800Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:02:24 -0800en-ushttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss60Albums That Never Werehttp://www.metafilter.com/146482/Albums%2DThat%2DNever%2DWere
<a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/">Albums That Never Were</a> Soniclovenoize recreates versions of lost albums.
The Beatles (<a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2012/06/beatles-get-back-soniclovenoize.html">1</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-beatles-instant-karma-1970.html">2</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-beatles-imagine-clouds-dripping-1971.html">3</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-beatles-living-in-material-world.html">4</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-beatles-band-on-run-1973.html">5</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-beatles-good-night-vienna-1974.html">6</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/04/paul-mccartney-wings-red-rose-speedway.html">7</a>), Pink Floyd (<a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/02/pink-floyd-shape-of-questions-to-heaven.html">1</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/02/pink-floyd-vantage-point-1969.html">2</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/03/pink-floyd-themes-from-imaginary_15.html">3</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/05/pink-floyd-soundtrack-to-film-zabriskie.html">4</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/04/pink-floyd-massed-gadgets-of-auximenes.html">5</a>), The Beach Boys (<a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-beach-boys-smile-1967.html">1</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-beach-boys-smile-2004.html">2</a>,<a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-beach-boys-landlocked.html">3</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-beach-boys-adultchild.html">4</a>), The Who (<http>1, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-who-lifehouse-soniclovenoize.html">2</a>), Dylan (<http>1, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2012/06/bob-dylan-big-pink-soniclovenoize.html">2</a>), <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/10/jimi-hendrix-first-rays-of-new-rising.html">Hendrix</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-doors-celebration-of-lizard.html">The Doors</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-velvet-underground-iv.html">The Velvet Underground</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/05/frank-zappa-were-only-in-it-for-money.html">Zappa</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/08/captain-beefheart-it-comes-to-you-in.html">Captain Beefheart</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-turtles-shell-shock.html">The Turtles</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-zombies-rip.html">The Zombies</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/03/van-morrison-contractual-obligations.html">Van Morrison</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/06/neil-young-chrome-dreams.html">Neil Young</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/12/crosby-stills-nash-young-human-highway.html">CSNY</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-clash-rat-patrol-from-fort-bragg.html">The Clash</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/02/nirvana-sheep.html">Nirvana</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-smashing-pumpkins-glass-and.html">Smashing Pumpkins</a>, <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/08/weezer-songs-from-black-hole.html">Weezer</a>, and <a href="http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-mars-volta-frances-mute-2cd.html">Mars Volta</a>.</http></http> tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.146482Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:02:24 -0800goetheanThe origins of that stereotypical Chinese nine-note riffhttp://www.metafilter.com/142319/The%2Dorigins%2Dof%2Dthat%2Dstereotypical%2DChinese%2Dnine%2Dnote%2Driff
<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/08/28/338622840/how-the-kung-fu-fighting-melody-came-to-represent-asia">Kat Chow, with NPR's Code Switch, put together a short piece on the history and the prevalence of the well-known nine note "stereotypical Asian theme."</a> As described in <a href="http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=300466">a 2005 Straight Dope forum question</a>: <em>You know, the one that goes <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrEOZk23FzA">dee dee dee dee duh duh dee dee duh</a>. Featured heavily in braindead Hollywood flicks made by clueless directors who want to give a scene an "oriental" feel. Also a variation of it can be heard in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_8IXx4tsus">David Bowie's "China Girl."</a></em> One point of entry goes back to the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition, where western audiences (<a href="http://brenthugh.com/debnotes/gamelan.html">including the then young Claude Debussy</a>, who beginning to make himself known and get his first compositions published) first experienced the pentatonic scale and other elements in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamelan">gamelan</a>, from the Java exhibit, which featured a model Kampong, or village, that included traditional music from the region. <a href="http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~jjordan/gamelan/scales.html">The gamelan includes two key two scales, or laras</a>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ku9iH2pU9g">sl&#0233;ndro (5 note) and p&#0233;log (7 note)</a> .
But as noted in the NPR piece, <a href="http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=300466&page=3">one Straight Dope member who went by the handle ligeti, then mani, latched onto this question</a> and did some seriously extensive research by "utilising various online archives of old sheet music and recordings whose copyright claims have expired." He shared his research in a website under the title <a href="http://chinoiserie.atspace.com/">The Musical Clich&#0233; Figure Signifying The Far East: Whence, Wherefore, Whither?</a> and included the notes and <a href="http://www.midi.org/aboutmidi/tut_midifiles.php">MIDI</a> files of the particular samples.
Martin Nilsson, the Swedish web designer who went by mani in the Straight Dope forum, found "proto" examples of the theme <a href="http://chinoiserie.atspace.com/1847to1899.html">going back to 1847</a> (<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/82263/Everybody-was-kung-fu-fighting">previously</a>). But the first really strong example of the proto-Asian theme is found in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown,_My_Chinatown">"Chinatown, My Chinatown"</a>, first made famous for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwBayD--eFk">the recording by Billy Murray and the American Quartet</a> from 1915, but Nilsson noted that various recordings of the song might have removed the riff all-together (as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW1hpWof-dE">done by The Mills Brothers</a>), or even mores strongly emphasized it (as heard from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSjVSvqs4CQ">Tommy Dorsey and his Clambake Seven</a>).
[An interesting tangent in the 1915 to 1929 period: <a href="http://chinoiserie.atspace.com/1915to1929.html">the cross-over of Native American "Indian" themes and "Oriental" themes</a>, as heard in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4a6L6Sy9R8">"Indianola"</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tef8RQF3XTU">"The Japanese Sandman"</a>.]
<a href="http://chinoiserie.atspace.com/1930to1973.html">By 1930</a>, the choppy pentatonic scale style is firmly set as "Asian," as heard in <a href="http://chinoiserie.atspace.com/1930to1973.html">"Sing Song Girl," performed by LeRoy Shield's Orchestra</a>, then with cartoon caricatures of Chinese culture being set to the stylized music, as seen and heard in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2uO10xielE">The China Plate</a> (Disney Silly Symphony, 1931), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25Os89iN0cQ">Chinaman's Chance</a> (Ub Iwerks cartoon, featuring Flip the Frog, 1933). Also from this period of the 1930s: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvYDvgg-x5Y">"Oriental Shuffle" by Django Reinhardt</a>.
Jump ahead, and we have the theme tucked into the Disney wartime cartoons, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el5hxlEk-KI">Out of the Frying Pan into the Firing Line</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5CKHLlwA7U">The New Spirit</a>, and featured more prominently in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iVf0pPHvjc">Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom</a>, scoring a caricature of a Chinaman (alongside other stereotypes), and used in a similar vein in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdDla0QW844"><em>Lady and the Tramp</em> with "We Are Siamese."</a> And then again, there's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?8eU91nut6Oo?t=2m53s">the Chinese cat</a> in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eU91nut6Oo"><em>The Aristocats</em> "Everybody Wants to be a Cat."</a>
Back to music in various forms, it was oddly added on as an intro to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyuWzk4okHk">Benny Morton's All Star version of "Limehouse Blues"</a>, and more obviously included in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO1IwdanmNM">
"Ling Ting Tong" by The The Five Keys</a>. A variation was included throughout <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pugaIcElHRY">"Chow Mein" by The Gaylords</a>, not to be confused by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx7JhKT3CcA">The Gaylads and "Ah So"</a>, a rock and roll track that apparently included Jerry Lee Lewis on the "Chinese" piano chops.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzxa49fefq8">Frank Zappa even threw it into "Cheepnis"</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzxa49fefq8&t=5m17s">well into that song</a>, probably released before <a href="http://chinoiserie.atspace.com/1974totoday.html">the 1970s really got into that theme</a>, starting with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0">Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting"</a> in 1974 joined by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMR4nquJb5c">"Bad Detective" by the New York Dolls</a> (and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va_Rmpd3PZI">Hong Kong Phooey</a>, the animated super dog). Rush had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWmqfyE4M6o">"A Passage To Bangkok"</a> in 1976, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEmJ-VWPDM4">"Turning Japanese" by The Vapors</a> came out in 1979.
By now, those nine little notes are well known in the western world, but is it known and associated similarly elsewhere? Anthony Kuhn, NPR's Beijing correspondent, played the tune for people in China and asked them what they thought. <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=338622840">Most people were not familiar and that it doesn't sound like it's from China.</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.142319Thu, 28 Aug 2014 21:05:16 -0800filthy light thiefREMINGTONELECTRICRAZORREMINGTONELECTRICRAZORhttp://www.metafilter.com/119374/REMINGTONELECTRICRAZORREMINGTONELECTRICRAZOR
<a href="http://dangerousminds.net/comments/1967_frank_zappa_linda_ronstadt_radio_ad_that_influenced_the_simpsons_theme">How did an unused 1967 commerical jingle produced by Frank Zappa lead to the Simpsons Theme?</a> tag:metafilter.com,2012:site.119374Mon, 27 Aug 2012 17:09:18 -0800The WhelkMr. Leonard Bernstein Explains It All For Youhttp://www.metafilter.com/102993/Mr%2DLeonard%2DBernstein%2DExplains%2DIt%2DAll%2DFor%2DYou
<em><a href="http://youtu.be/oSq1ca__cRA">Inside Pop - The Rock Revolution</a> is a CBS News special, broadcast in April 1967. The show was hosted by Leonard Bernstein and is probably one of the first examples of pop music being examined as a 'serious' art form. The film features many scenes shot in Los Angeles in late 1966, including interviews with Frank Zappa and Graham Nash, as well as the now legendary Brian Wilson solo performance of "Surf's Up."</em> <strong>(MLYT)</strong> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vlO1p94uR4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL">Part 2
</a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isl8MklxJOw&feature=related">Part 3</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxSha5StJW8&feature=related">Part 4
</a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ubnrKyfQr8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL">Part 5</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9-waCF60GQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL">Part 6</a> tag:metafilter.com,2011:site.102993Fri, 29 Apr 2011 06:30:14 -0800overeducated_alligatorThe Zappa Drummershttp://www.metafilter.com/80401/The%2DZappa%2DDrummers
Frank Zappa was renown for his quality band members and even more for his legendary <a href="http://www.bassplayer.com/article/audition-absurdities-frank/apr-07/27062">audition</a> <a href="http://www.howcast.com/videos/12086-Steve-Vai-on-His-Audition-For-Frank-Zappas-Band">process</a>.
The Drum Channel has a 7 part video series which brings together Zappa's drummers from his previous bands (<a href="http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Ralph_Humphrey.html">Ralph Humphrey</a>. <a href="http://www.chesterthompson.com/">Chester Thompson</a>, <a href="http://www.terrybozzio.com/home.html">Terry Bozzio</a>, <a href="http://www.chadwackerman.com/">Chad Wackerman</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSavN19ZJ4g">Ruth Underwood</a>) to discuss the behind-the-scenes process of these auditions(<a href="http://www.drumchannel.com/entertainment/3016.aspx">Pt1</a>, <a href="http://www.drumchannel.com/entertainment/15004.aspx">Pt2</a>, <a href="http://www.drumchannel.com/entertainment/16781.aspx">Pt3</a>, <a href="http://www.drumchannel.com/entertainment/18199.aspx">Pt4</a>, <a href="http://www.drumchannel.com/entertainment/20001.aspx">Pt5</a>, <a href="http://www.drumchannel.com/entertainment/20813.aspx">Pt6</a>, <a href="http://www.drumchannel.com/entertainment/20814.aspx"> Pt7</a>). It also <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruB1JplOmTw">culminates in a drummer jam</a>. Notable highlights: Ruth Underwood discusses how Mahavishnu Orchestra gave Zappa a musical wakeup call (Parts 2 and 3) and Chad Wackerman discusses in great detail his harrowing audition experience (Part 4). A lot of names are dropped as well in terms of those who didn't make the cut. Even if you're not a Zappa fan, there's a lot of musical talent represented in this very insightful videos. tag:metafilter.com,2009:site.80401Sun, 29 Mar 2009 00:03:35 -0800KevinSkomsvoldThe Yellow Shark [NOT MUDSHARK-IST]http://www.metafilter.com/71742/The%2DYellow%2DShark%2DNOT%2DMUDSHARKIST
In 1993, we said goodbye to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa">Frank Zappa</a>, fallen victim to prostate cancer. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDYzuwG-gOE">A 1993 Today Show interview with Frank.</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLk7mMnPbPY">A 1993 BBC documentary about Frank.</a> <small>{Parts <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6PkoQfoZIw">2</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg7FGuvVxi0">3</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=min3I18LvQM">4</a>.}</small> "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCp_OIup3x8">Outrage at Valdez</a>," from 1993's <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yellow_Shark">The Yellow Shark.</a></i> <small><small>[Zappa mega-post <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/63749/Celebrate-His-Entire-Catalog">previously on MeFi</a>]</small></small> tag:metafilter.com,2008:site.71742Sat, 17 May 2008 13:18:06 -0800not_on_displayZAPPA! Do you speak it?http://www.metafilter.com/62681/ZAPPA%2DDo%2Dyou%2Dspeak%2Dit
<a href="http://musictravellers.blogspot.com/2007/06/frank-zappa-gws-project-volumes-1-5.html">Frank Zappa - The Gigantic Spoken Word Project.</a> Numerous volumes of a very large collection of Frank Zappa spoken word releases. <em>They consist of radio interviews and journalist reporter type personal interviews. During the radio interviews sometimes music was played as background or added before the broadcast in between questions and answers. Sometimes FZ acts as D.J., plays records from his collection and talks to the radio audience. But the main focus of this series is FZ interviews which to me is as interesting as his music.</em> <small>(Just a quick warning; the download mechanism is a tad annoying)</small> tag:metafilter.com,2007:site.62681Thu, 05 Jul 2007 21:20:17 -0800KevinSkomsvoldce n'est pas une bicyclettehttp://www.metafilter.com/52575/ce%2Dnest%2Dpas%2Dune%2Dbicyclette
In 1963, a full 3 years before his first MoI recording, a <a href="http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/videography/Steve_Allen_Show.html">young, beardless Zappa</a> appeared live on the Steve Allen show playing a musical composition on bicycles. Jerry Hopkins, the show's talent coordinator, discusses <a href="http://www.jerryhopkins.com/stories/zappasbike.html">how the young musician's debut performance came about</a>. Hardcore zappaphiles can view <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEmgyM9rWLA&search=1963">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIpPENCP4Ak ">Part 2</a> (<strong>Danger:</strong> long &amp; grainy B&amp;W YouTube clips, diamonds in the rough). tag:metafilter.com,2006:site.52575Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:58:15 -0800madamjujujiveMy Name Is Larry! My Name Is Larry!http://www.metafilter.com/47905/My%2DName%2DIs%2DLarry%2DMy%2DName%2DIs%2DLarry
<a href="http://derailroaded.com/">Derailroaded: Inside The Mind Of Wild Man Fischer</a> . <a href="http://home.new.rr.com/tapelists/wildman/">Larry "Wild Man" Fischer</a> was a schizophrenic street musician on LA's Sunset Strip back in the hippie daze. Frank Zappa took him under his wing and produced a double album entitled <a href="http://easydreamer.blogspot.com/2005/12/week-41-merry-christmas-do-not-unwrap.html">An Evening With Wild Man Fischer</a> (full audio available) [mi] tag:metafilter.com,2005:site.47905Thu, 29 Dec 2005 08:37:03 -0800jonmcthe long tail of the poodlehttp://www.metafilter.com/41877/the%2Dlong%2Dtail%2Dof%2Dthe%2Dpoodle
<a href="http://www.zappa.com/cheezoid/whatsnew/world-news/FZ-Proposal/index.html">Did Frank Zappa invent the iTunes music store?</a> <br><small>from <a href="http://www.zappa.com/">zappa.com</a>:</small>
<br><i>"Every major record company has vaults full of (and perpetual rights to) great recording by major artists in many categories which might still provide enjoyment to music consumers if they were made available in the right way. MUSIC CONSUMERS LIKE TO CONSUME MUSIC . . . NOT PIECES OF VINYL WRAPPED IN PIECES OF CARDBOARD."</i> tag:metafilter.com,2005:site.41877Tue, 10 May 2005 03:36:08 -0800Silky Slim